The Collinsport Chronicles 1 Collinwood 1979
by Maryland Rose
Summary: We catch up on the Collinsport doings seven years later. Seven years can be a long time, and our characters have gone through a lot of changes. Familiar characters are there. New ones show up. Some old gone characters may return. Othesr are temporarily absent. It just takes time to develop, just as the soap opera did.
1. Chapter 1

COLLINSPORT 1979

Seven years have passed. A lot can happen in seven years, specially in Collinsport. So, we find our characters in changed circumstances. Barnabas and Angelique are together at last. Barnabas is still a vampire, but has learned to live with it. Megan Todd - who is alive because Willie flunked anatomy - came back and put him straight about a few things, mainly that vampirism is no excuse for stupidity. She taught him to be smart about his need for blood, and that made things better for everybody.

But some people can't stay out of trouble. Some characters are still around. Some are temporarily absent, and old characters may return. You just have to be patient...

Chapter 1

Angelique wished she hadn't seen Quentin. He had been after her, asking her to repent of her sins in that droning way of his.

"You have to obey the will of God. You have to follow his plan."

"For God's sake, can you stop talking in clichés?" she has asked, irritated.

"They are the truth. They changed me. You remember how I used to be in the old days. But no more... If you and Barnabas were to repent..."

"He didn't get into trouble that way. I did something terrible to him and I cannot undo it.."

"Ask Jesus. Ask him to come into you life. I did and my life has been changed."

"So now you are going to destroy your portrait?" Angelique burst out.

The shot had told. Whatever his faith, it wasn't enough to risk dying of old age. Or going back to howl at the moon in all fours. Christ Jennings had adapted to it, but Chris was basically a normal, dull person. If he hadn't had the tendency to turn into a wolf every now and then, he would have ended up a CPA. It wasn't likely that the accident-prone Quentin could manage that well.

The main trouble with Quentin, she realized now, was that he had not sense whatsoever in his stupid head. Even after being "born again", common sense was not one of his virtues.. She remembered all the things he had gone through: he had been a ghost, a zombie, a werewolf, had been given eternal youth, and somebody had exchanged minds with him. Then all those women... He had seemed so heartbroken when Amanda had been lost to him. But before long, he had been back in the running. She knew of at least two illegitimate children. And there would have been more if it hadn't been for the Pill. One thing about Quentin, he was reliable. You could always rely on him to get into trouble.

" I trust Jesus to guide me. The Lord is my Shepherd" There he was, preaching again.

She stood up, impatiently. "I will not stop going to be with him. I love him, and he needs me."

"Are you happy? Are you really happy?" His face showed that he thought they were not.

"Of course, we are."

"So why don't you look it?"

"I do not know what you see or imagine you see." she said defensively "we are both happy. As happy as we can possibly be."

Finally she managed to get rid of him. Damn it, he was right. She didn't look happy. She wasn't happy. It would be ironic if after all those years she had scrambled to get Barnabas, she would tire of him so quickly. She remembered how she felt the first time she had seen him. How she desired him. Year after year he rejected her, and year after year she yearned for him more and more. Finally he had come to her. In pain, as his little world collapsed around him. Oh, she was so happy then... And a few months later, where had the happiness gone?

She rubbed her face and tried to compose a smile. He must never know how she felt. She couldn't reject him now. Julia had quarreled with him. Carolyn wouldn't talk to him. She knew that for him Carolyn was the daughter he could never have. Maggie was in Washington, doing a good job in the House of Representatives and eyeing Muskie's Senate seat. He knew that Maggie didn't love him. It had been a staffer's mistake when he received a letter addressed to Dear Constituent. But he got the idea all the same.

Nothing was the way it had been. David and Amy living in a commune, dropping every now and then to bring some organically grown squash and pot. Roger went around accusing everyone of framing Nixon. Elizabeth had married a man much younger than herself and gone away. It made you yearn for the good old days when occult forces were gathering to attack them from every quarter. Once the threats were gone, nothing could keep the family together. She suspected that all the guilt Barnabas had been suffering for his need for blood was nothing compared to the depression that hit him when the family fell apart and he couldn't do a thing about it.

She had come to her. In pain. And she had closed her arms around him, digging her nails in his back. She had finally gotten him! And in her triumph, she didn't notice his pain.

And now...what was there between the two of them?

She came in. He wasn't there. Out in some business of his own... Which meant either of two things. He was out to lunch, or he had run into someone who needed help. She suspected the latter. He liked to help people. That seemed to be the only thing that could get him off his depression. He did have a nose for trouble... He had also ran Maggie's firsts campaign, and was always circulating petitions or soliciting contributions for worthy causes. What was the last one? She should be able to remember it. After all, living together as they did, she should know of these things.

Perhaps that was it. In all those years she had been trying to get him, she had never stopped to find out what he was really like. Maybe she had known him once. But after so much time, she had forgotten he could change. Or that she herself could. When he came to her, what did she care? She had landed him, hung her trophy on the wall.

She went to the liquor cabinet and poured herself a drink.. She swallowed it in a gulp and poured herself another. She hated herself. She remembered the day she had put the curse on him. All because he didn't want her. Well, now he wanted her. She didn't want him, and he was still cursed.

She sobbed. If he could at least blame her, she would feel better, but no, he never spoke of the past. He just told her he loved her. Why did he have to be so damn decent about it? Why couldn't she love him? Why did he need her so much?

Suddenly a bat flew in through the window. She jumped to her feet, but it was only her friend, Megan Todd.

"Her isn't here" the newcomer said. "which means I can smoke."

"There are no ashtrays."

"That bad, eh?" Megan shrugged in her usual fashion. "All these moral uplift commandos are the same. They are always trying to improve the rest of us, whether we ask them or not. Do you believe that he's warned me about lung cancer? As if I could catch it.'

"He means well. And he feels responsible for you."

"Well, that's water over the bridge. I don't blame him for that. Just bad luck. If only he hadn't tried to get me killed..."

"You must understand, being what he is terrible for him."

"It isn't so terrible for me. After all, it helped me make a bundle out of draft dodgers before Nixon screwed me up by abolishing the draft. He could have made a bundle, too, if he had wanted."

"He couldn't have done that."

"I know. He is not a hustler. He isn't at all like you or me. The problem is that he might have to learn the tricks in a hurry."

"What do you mean?"

"His money is running out"

"What do you mean?"

"Willie asked me to check it out. He got to figuring that Barnabas was always spending money and never earning it. You know how he helped Willie get back on his feet after that deal of his.":

"When he bought that Florida swampland from my worthless brother."

"So he feels he must now help Barnabas."

"Well, what did you find?"

"He had bought some quite a number of shares before... before you ran into him. Some joint venture between him and his uncle. When he came out, he still had them, and they were actually worth a lot. So he used that money. It would have lasted longer considering all the expenses he doesn't have "- she looked around quickly. "This place is not even wired for electricity. But he is too generous for his own good, and now he's touching bottom...in short, we better get him a job, quickly."

"Well, what can I do?"

"Convince him to take any job that is offered to him. Willie is now in Washington, trying to get Maggie to help. We figure that with luck he'll land a Federal job.":

"Why a Federal job?"

"Federal employees cannot got around circulating petitions or soliciting contributions."

"Only collecting taxes."

"It isn't the same things. Tax collectors do not risk getting tarred and feathered the way Barnabas might end up."

"Tarred and feathered why? He's nor hurting anyone. The know that. You are the only accident he had here."

"They do not object to that. Of course, they would like for him to do what I do. Have sex at the same time... Say, your sex life is all right?"

"He's not impotent."

"Sometimes he acts so screwed up that I wonder. Anyway, what they really object to is being wakened up in the middle of the night to sign a petition to try Kissinger as a war criminal."

"But Kissinger is a war criminal."

"And for that you fly into people's bedrooms and waked them up at 3 AM? People like their eight hours of sleep. And I will make sure they get them before they get violent."

"I hope they don't" Angelique shuddered.

"Forgive me for prying, but are you happy with him?"

"Of course." Why did she ask the same question as Quentin?

"So those are tears of happiness, I see. Look, I know that something is wrong with you two. And I have a hunch I know what it is."

"What is it, then?"

"You two do not belong together. You are a hustler, like me. He is an idealist with a thousand causes, and he gives his all to each and every one of them. You don't what they are and you don't care. I don't think that you would have worried about Kissinger if you hadn't heard from him. If he did not feel so damn lonely and you so damn guilty, you would have realized it long ago."

Angelique tried unsuccessfully to deny once more.

"You are wrong. We are both happy."

"I wish it were so. It breaks my heart to see you like this."

"Are you trying to seduce me again?" Angelique smiled.

"No" Megan shook her head. "We tried that once and it didn't work. I just can't be faithful to anyone. It is a good thing that Philip is dead and can't see me now. He loved me too much for my own good."

"Do you need the sex or is it just a way of getting at the blood?"

"Don't be silly. Of course, it is just the sex. I can live very well on animal blood. But I need to have sex. And biting can make it more interesting.

"I see."

"Don't you two ever do that?"

"Never."

"You should try it. But I guess that he is a special case. he feels awful guilty about it. And he just loves poking his nose into everybody else's business. He's the champion dispenser of unsolicited advice in the area. So every time he bites someone, he has a wonderful opportunity to feel guilty and to unburden his conscience by subjecting his victims to his unsolicited advice. That's why I thought about a Federal job. Seems a good place for him to end up. He might drive his boss crazy, but he will be getting paid for it, so that's OK."

"And you want me to talk him into accepting it?"

"Yes, after Maggie, Willie, and me have got it."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Representative Evans of Maine looked at her appointment list. It was going to be a busy week. And, as she said to the staff, you have to talk to your constituents. The problem was that this constituent was Willie Loomis. Not that she minded Willie. She liked him. She had come all the way from DC to his wedding. But Willie meant Barnabas, and Barnabas meant a whole new aspirin supply.

She wondered again why she had let him handle her first campaign. Well, it seemed a good idea at the time. With his help, she had been elected against Carolyn's efforts. Of course it had been a setback when Carolyn exposed his vampirism to the townspeople, but Carolyn was such a bitch that it all ended well.

But now she wanted to go on to bigger and better things. And what she least wanted to see was an FBI file on her former campaign manager.

If she didn't find a way to get rid of the threat he represented, she'd better pack her bags.

For what little good it did, she had never acknowledged to anybody that she knew that there was anything wrong with him. Should anyone leak it out, she would be extremely surprised and try to luck it out.

It would be better if his car were to go off the cliff. If only she could keep Angelique from finding out that she had arranged it...

Willie had changed since she had last seen him. After losing all his money in that Florida land deal he had taken to drink. But then he had straightened out, though there were traces of his bad time in him.

"You look very well, Willie." she said as he came into the room.

"Thank you, Mag... er... Ms. Evans."

"Just call me Maggie. I am not in the habit of forgetting old friends."

"Thanks. And thank you for helping me start my business after that son-of-bitch cleaned me up."

"It was the law. You were entitled to a small business loan. All I did was get some bureaucrat get off his ass and do the work he's being paid to do."

"Even so, I will always be grateful to you. And to Barnabas, after the way he got me off the bottle. After that, anything he wants of me, he can have."

"Yes, he's a good man." She'd better warn him here and now about what he could say and not say in DC. "I was lucky to have someone of his integrity running my campaign. Any slip, and it would all be over. You do not know what this place is like. Everybody is looking into everybody else's dirty little secrets. They are always fishing for a scandal that can end your career.. And if they can't find dirt on you, they go after your staff. And the campaign manager is a lighting rod for this. Laundered money, dirty tricks, ballot stuffing, embezzlement, a sex scandal. Whatever will do the job. That's why I am glad it was him. he's clean."

She didn't know how much did Willie believe that spiel, but it didn't matter. As long as he got the point that there could be a bug planted there.

"And he's had such a bad time lately..."

"I know. Carolyn still does not speak to him?"

"Of course not. In a way, I can see her point. No, not about you being elected." he added quickly. "About her mother. After all, she wanted to marry Adam, but he just runs off with her mother..."

"I cannot blame Elizabeth either. All these years she buried herself alive because she though she had murdered her husband. After she was free, she wanted to live and make up for those missing years."

"Poor Roger" Willie wondered if he had to go through the whole family before Maggie indicated that she was ready for business. "Between Elizabeth, and David running off to a commune, it undid him. Watergate was the last straw. So now he runs around accusing everyone of framing Nixon. It is sad...

"Poor Roger. And then the way Barnabas and Julia quarreled.."

"She had always been in love with him. And he either didn't notice or played dumb. Eventually she got tired of the runaround. She made a play for Eliot Stokes."

"And Stokes preferred to marry Mrs. Johnson, the housekeeper."

"Mrs. Johnson aided and abetted by Barnabas. Julia did not forgive him that. Also at that time Barnabas was very critical of the AMA, doing his bit for socialized medicine. They had extremely heated discussions about malpractice, unnecessary operations, inflated bills, and other interesting matters."

"Well, now that Julia is away, time may heal the wounds." Maggie sighed, wondering if Willie remembered that it was her who had arranged the Julia study trip, and that he should not ask favors one after the other. "In a way it was my fault it happened. I shared the figures I had with him."

"Not your fault. Barnabas can be as tactless as Quentin."

"I got a letter from Quentin. Or rather a tract. He seems wanting to convert everyone around."

"He's getting to Louella now. Well, it doesn't seem to hurt her, maybe it helps her a bit..."

Maggie bit her tongue before she commented on Quentin's efforts to convert every beautiful woman he could see. There was no point in alarming Willie. It was one thing for Quentin to try to seduce Louella, it was another to succeed.. For that matter, Quentin's conversion could be the real thing. But she doubted it. Quentin's conversion was only the latest in his long string of accidents.

"All in all, it is good to know that some people back home are doing well." She kept stretching the conversation. It was a good way, she had found out. to scale down demands. 'Like Chris and Sabrina."

"Yes." Damn it, did he have to go through the whole town? "And since Megan, Angelique, and Sabrina work together with him, they are calling them "Chris's Angels" Like the TV show.".

"What about you and Louella? Are you planning to give us a little Loomis?"

"We are planning on it."

"Good for you."

"Say, Maggie." It had to be said now. He could take no more of this social chatter. "do you know that Barnabas needs help? He needs a job. And he has no experience whatsoever. Couldn't you find him a place in the Civil Service? Look, you know that there are many things he can do, even if he never got paid for doing them. You know best what he's good at. Certainly there is some place in the Government that could use him."

"He would have to take the Civil Service test first, you know."

"I know. I don't want you to do anything improper. Only that if you figure out there is an opening. let us know."

"That's all I can do."

What had she gotten herself into? Finding a job for a vampire and in the Federal Government yet. Maybe she could put in in the IRS.

"That's what I get for not wanting a crooked campaign manager." she thought "What is so wrong with laundering money, anyway? And why does Willie want him in the Federal Government? Because then he could not wake up people at 3 AM and have them sign petitions? It seemed funny when she had heard about it, but it probably wasn't so funny when it happened to you.

And why had she let him run her campaign? Because she needed him then, of course.

Too bad the Julia Hoffman solution could not work here. Where would she find the money to send him and Angelique on a honeymoon cruise? No, she'd better find him a job before she went broke and Jack Anderson came sniffing a great story there...

How she got into these messes, anyway?

"As I say, Willie, there is not much that I can do. But I will try. Say, those organizations that he did volunteer work for, were they in the kosher list of the FBI?"

"With the kind of stuff they are finding about Edgar Hoover, you think that it'll matter?"

"Did he ever go around with Communists, I mean?"

"Never as far as he knew. Of course, there might be one of them around, but who it might be, he'd have no way of knowing."

"Well, what kind of job would he want?"

"You know what kind of volunteer work he did. Something along the same lines. Will you look for it?"

"Willie, if there is a job in the Civil Service that he can do, he'll get it."

She wondered how much of a leeway that promise gave her. Not much, since she couldn't afford to have him go broke. And he certainly could not go into business by himself. After all, Willie, for all his devotion, had not thought of making him a partner...So it came to her, in DC and her bag of tricks from where projects, Federal money and Federal jobs came from. And in the meantime she was supposed to pass laws and shape national policy. But when? Not when most of the time she was busy on stuff like finding a job for a vampire.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Frank Torrance wondered why Carolyn Hawkes had asked him to visit her. Ten to one she would try to bribe him. It was the usual. He had been offered the weirdest things in his career. Sometimes he wondered if he should accept them. He knew of others who did. He also knew of others who had either been fired or buried into dead-end jobs because they had been too honest for their own good.

"I might end up the same way" he thought "My mother did not work her fingers to the bone washing other people's floors so that I should end that way."

But he never took that thought seriously. He was damn sure that his pious mother would not like it at all to find that she had worked her fingers to the bone so that he could become another corrupt official. Like the ones who looked the other way while his father spat out his lungs in the factory floor. He had loved his father, dead when he was eight. He loved his mother. And he was not going to give a break to those bastards who killed fathers of eight year olds because taking precautions against occupational diseases was too expensive.

And Carolyn Hawkes was one of these. He had counted ten serious violations. Not picayune stuff, of the kind that prompted many to rightfully claim petty harassment. He had learned to steer away from those even before the new directives. No, the stuff going on at the Collins cannery was serious. Some of it was deadly.

And the people did not complain. How could they? It was a one industry town. You either worked for the Collins family, or did not work at all. it had been that simple for generations.

He wondered how they had managed to send Margaret Evans to Congress. He liked the lady. She was the one who had pulled strings so that he would be sent here. Not a moment too soon, as he could see.

He wondered if he should drop in to see Barnabas Collins again. The renegade of the Collins family and Ms. Evans one-time campaign manager. He had welcomed him into town and assailed him with suggestions for his job. Many were worthless, but others proved to be one-hundred percent accurate, like his listing of fire hazards.

He wondered what he did for a living. He would like him to work in his department. With a little training he would make an excellent investigator. Maybe it would do him good, too. If he moved to DC, then he would get out of this small town and the sad memories it evidently held for him.

He checked himself. How could he know what kind of memories this place held? Of course, this affair with the girl from the Jennings agency was on the rocks. Seemed a typical case of a couple going through Hell in order not to hurt the other with the truth. Very noble, but awful dumb.

He was a sad man, true. And gentle, too. Carolyn Hawkes hated him and was quite open about it. But him, when he talked of her, he was always gentle. Yes, he knew what she was doing. He was fighting her. He had helped Margaret Evans get elected. He had managed to get a Federal Inspector in, and given him all the help he could. But he would not say a harsh world against Mrs. Hawkes.

A psychologist would have a field day with him. He might even get a chapter all by himself in a psychology book.

He was no there when he called. Instead he found his girlfriend nursing a drink.

"You should not drink so much." he told her.

"I do not see what business it is of yours."

"I like both of you. I do not like to see you hurting each other. Why don't you tell him that the love affair is over? It will hurt at first, but it will be much worse if you end up an alcoholic. And what makes you think that he is happier? I know these things happen...

"You know?" she mocked him. " You tell me about your experience. Do you want me to tell you about mine? What could you know that I don't?

"I guess I went too far." he gulped. "I am sorry. But you two seem so unhappy, and I like both of you. Specially you...Anyway, if I didn't love to be involved with other people's problems I would be in another line of work."

"Did you come all the way to tell me this?"

"No. I want to talk to Barnabas. You see, I am supposed to meet Mrs. Hawkes today. I suspect that she will try to bribe me. I want to know what to do. I know that he wouldn't want me to arrest her. But I cannot let her go on either.

"Can you be non-committal?"

"First lesson a bureaucrat ever learns.."

"Then be non-committal. Later come back here and decide what to do next. He has a handle over her, but he'd rather not use it."

"These people "thought Torrance as he left" were very nice but very neurotic too. Well, nothing is gained by antagonizing your allies."

He wondered where Barnabas could be. Asking would be useless. The best kept secret seemed to be Barnabas' whereabouts at certain times. If he wasn't around, no one would say where he might be..

His mind returned to her, in that lonely house. Probably pouring herself another drink. Poor girl. And good looking too. With so much going for her, why did she do that to herself?

Well, musing would never get the job done. He had to see Carolyn Hawkes and make as if he didn't hear the offers she made. If only those people would come up with something that would really tempt him. Like an estate in the Caribbean - his own private island. But those people were too damn cheap, even for bribing...

Mrs. Hawkes was still young, but her face was marked by bitterness. He knew that she was a widow., that her cousin had joined a commune, and that her uncle had not been committed because it would not be proper, in her view, to have a Collins in a nuthouse. There was also the scandal of her mother's marriage. It had seemed funny when he had first heard it. Now that he saw what it had done to her, it was not. Her mother had once been a recluse. Maybe Mrs. Hawkes was heading in that direction.

He thought he could understand Barnabas' gentleness with her.

She took him into her study. She tried to smile coquettishly at him. Would he find old-fashioned seduction here? He hoped not. Bribery he could handle, but Carolyn Hawkes trying to play the siren would just be ludicrous. He would not know whether to laugh or cry.

"I am sorry about the service." she said "There isn't a servant you can trust these days."

He had heard that line before. It was old before he was born. And while those people complained about their servants, his mother was washing floors on hands and knees...

Then he remembered the other juicy story. the trusted housekeeper who had one day decided to go to college. And worse, this servant of theirs had married Professor Eliot Stokes. A University Professor. Somebody they received in their living room. Why couldn't that woman remember the difference between those who served the tea and those who drank it?

So now, she had no housekeeper, and had to receive a Federal Inspector in such a fashion.

She took her time getting to the point. She wanted to talk about everything except the factory. At least she did not try to seduce him.

But if she wasn't the over talkative type, why keep going on about Carter, Ford, Nixon, and the Watergate?

"I think that Watergate was blown out of proportion" she said. "Kennedy and Johnson did worse"

'You might be right..." he was in no mood to waste time in an argument.

"I am right and you know it."

"Well, Nixon was caught. Kennedy and Johnson are dead, and there is no point raking them over the coals. but Nixon is alive."

"And he is not an Ivy League Liberal, of course."

"All right" he sighed. "I can see that we may start on along discussion, but that is now why I came here. I have a job to do..."

He could not finish. In front of him stood an old man, his eyes staring strangely at him.

"What are you talking about? Nixon? He was framed, you know. You framed him. You and Maggie Evans, who used to be a servant in this house... A governess is just a servant with airs... Maggie did it so that she could get elected. Barnabas was in it, too..."

This was evidently Roger Collins, the nut. Getting rid of him took a while. By the time they put him to be, it was dark.

"Mrs. Hawkes" he had to get to the business he had to do here "there are several gross violations in your plant. I do not want to blame you. I know that it is an old problem, from long before you were born. But something has to be done about it."

"Do you think that is that easy? You and all those Washington bureaucrats trying to tell me how to run my business.."

"Lady, spare me the speeches. I've heard all of them. I am willing to give you a chance to make good. I will make recommendations that you be considered a special case since you did not create the problem, just inherited it."

She quickly straightened up.

"There is somebody I want you to meet." she said, smiling. ",Maybe you will understand my position better after meeting her."

As if on cue an attractive brunette stepped in. He recognized her. Megan Todd, also of the Jennings agency.

"She can explain it better than I can" Carolyn said, as she left the room.

"Look, Mr. Torrance," Megan said. "it is nothing personal. I hope you understand. It is just a job that I've been hired to do. I don't want you to be more alarmed than you need."

"What are you talking about?"

"I will just you. I hate playing cat and mouse and I don't get paid by the hour."

In three steps she had come over him, taken him by the arms, and bared her teeth.

"There aren't such thinks as vampires" she managed to think before she bit him.

When he came to, she was rubbing water on his face.

"You took it awfully hard," she said. "most people usually don't. Don't worry. Nothing's broken. I haven't really harmed you. I only made sure that you will do what I'll tell you to do."

"What...what do you want me to do?"

"What Mrs. Hawkes paid me for. Write a good report for her. Be nice to her,."

Torrance burned with rage when he realized that she was right. He would now write the kind of report she wanted, even if it was one lie after another. He would never be able to put the Hawkes bitch behind bards. Damn her, talking nonsense all this time so that Megan could keep her appointment.

"You should not have been so stubborn" Megan added "Nothing like this would have happened if you had the good sense of taking a bribe. It would have been cheaper for her, too. I am expensive."

"The bitch!" The goddamn bitch!" I'll get her for this."

"Come on, Mr. Torrance." Mrs. Hawkes came back into the room. "stop the theater. As you said, cut the speeches. I too have heard them. And if you see cousin Barnabas, tell him from me to go to Hell."

"To think that you used...such...such a thing."

"Why do you look at my friend that way?"

"I am not your friend, Carolyn" Megan said softly. "I wonder if anyone is. I only do it for the money"

"Don't look at her that way, Mr. Torrance. She isn't so different from cousin Barnabas. In fact, he's the one who made her what she is today."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Did he tell you at what time he would be here?" Barnabas asked Angelique for the fifth time.

"No, only that he'd come when you'll be here.:

"He couldn't have been with Carolyn this long."

"Maybe he had another business to take care of."

"I wish I knew if he was all right."

"After all, he didn't say anything as to when he'd like to meet you."

"But he was in a hurry to meet me."

"He was in a hurry to meet you before he saw Carolyn. He has seen her. You can wait."

"I don't like the way you make it sound."

"He wouldn't be the first one who accepted a bribe. The world is full of them."

"Not him. I've talked with him. He's honest. And Carolyn doesn't have enough money to buy him. He's turned down big bribes in the past."

"Maybe that's his style. Turn down the big ones to get a reputation for honesty. Then work the small ones. If you think about it, there is more money in the end that way. And small industries do not attract many investigative reporters." Angelique tightened her fists and jaw.

She wanted so much another drink. She did not want Barnabas to see her. She believed he was starting to notice. She could drink as much as she wanted during the day and put the bottles back out of her own pocket.

If he knew, what would she tell him? That she didn't love him anymore? That she did not love him anymore? That she did not care who was honest and who took bribes? That she had had enough of the worthy causes and stray dogs he kept bringing in?

How could she hurt him this way?

"He is not the type?" Barnabas said. "I have talked to him."

"You have not heard him today."

"What did he say?"

"The same things Megan says. You know her. Working on draft dodgers and all kinds of illegal stuff did not teach her respect for the law or of morals. Well, this guy talks and thinks like her. Nobody can think like Megan and turn down a good bribe."

"He did not sound that way to me."

"Of course, he's smart enough to know that you are the local moral uplift commando. You are the one who called him in. He has to make a good impression on you. But the speech he gave your, it does not mean a thing."

"He'll come." Barnabas stared ahead.

"Don't look that way." Angelique put her arm around his shoulder.

"Do not touch me now". He pulled out fast.

"You are hungry" she understood "but you can do it with me if you want."

"No, I've already done it this week with you. After what happened with Megan, I will not go to the same person twice in the same month."

"You keep count?"

"Megan taught me to. For all that she is a hustler, she is right many times. And she is a nice person, basically."

"She is a nympho."

"And I am a pest. So what does it prove? I have read in one of Julia's books that there are many ways that people cope with impossible situations. Both she and I are in impossible situations, and we both found a way to cope."

"You can find excuses for everything."

"I just find it harder and harder to blame anyone."

"Even Carolyn?"

"Even Carolyn, specially after what she went through. She loved Adam."

"And he took Elizabeth instead. I bet you don't blame Elizabeth either."

"I cannot. She had buried herself alive. Then discovered that life was passing her by. she jumped at her only chance to be young again."

"What about Adam?"

"He's my son. He and Megan are the only children I had . The only children I will ever have. And I never really cared for him. I am a lousy father, Angelique. I never could have the patience my father had. Or Roger for that matter. Maybe it was just as well that I never married Josette. If only I had not driven her to jump off the cliff. If only she had had her chance for happiness...

The name Josette brought a sharp pain to Angelique. If it hadn't been for her, Barnabas would have had his chance for happiness. Instead here he was, full of quirks, a pest, a compulsive crusader, and the kind of hypochondriac who read Julia's psychiatry books to learn of new symptoms to catch.

She remembered how he was when she had first seen him. Young, impetuous, carefree. She had made sure that that part of him was gone for good. And what did she have in its place?

Serve her right for using the powers she had been born with to evil ends.

"If you are hungry you can leave" she said finally. "if he comes, I'll keep him here until you return."

If he went, he would get out of his depressed mood. Also that left her alone with the liquor cabinet.

"I can wait."

"For how long? Remember what Megan says. It doesn't do anybody any good if you try to hold it off. It doesn't do you any good, and the one you run into after holding out too long is going to get it tougher and take longer to recover. She says that's what happened with you two."

"She's right." he admitted. "I should go. But still I don't like it."

"Carolyn likes paying taxes even less. But she still pays them."

"I'd better be going then. Maybe on the way back I'll stop at Carolyn's and see if I can find out anything."

"I don't think you'll like what you'll find."

* * *

Megan was having a hard time explaining the fine points of covering up to Carolyn.

"The kind of report you want is too good." she explained "they are going to get suspicious. A report saying that you are starting improvements in a bad situation you inherited is good enough."

"I don't want it said that the cannery is unsafe."

"Don't' be so damn stubborn."

"I am stubborn. it happens to be the truth."

"Baby, fool Washington as much as you like. But don't fool yourself. One thing I have learned is that a con man starts to go when she believes his own spiel."

Those damn Collinses! There was not a single one of them who had an ounce of self-preservation in his body. She wondered who they managed to last this long. A bunch of babes in the woods, that's what they were. And now this Hawkes bitch wanted too much of a good thing.

She now wanted to nail Maggie Evans to the wall, because Maggie had pulled strings to have her investigated. Carolyn still had to learn how to be generous with one's enemies, specially when it paid to be so.

A too favorable report would backfire. Before long Jack Anderson or someone like him would smell it. then everything would come crashing down on their heads.

The last thing Megan wanted was to have anything crashing down on her head. Carolyn instead had been begging for it for a long time. Of course, whatever came crashing down on her head would end up crashing down on Barnabas' head too. Barnabas, probably the member of the family with the least instinct for self-preservation.

Why she did have to be involved with such a bunch was a mystery to her. Maybe lack of instinct of self-preservation was catching...

"Look;" she finally said. "I am the one who has control over him. I will tell him what to write."

"But I am the one who pays. It has the way I want it, or you won't see a penny of my money."

"You'd better pay. You hired me to do a job and I have done it. I've made sure that you don't get blasted by Washington. The deal including nothing about going after Maggie. And if you are smart, you won't even try. Better not find out how dirty she can fight."

"I am not going to be afraid of somebody who is giving herself airs, forgetting that she was a servant in this house."

"Well, she's a politician now. An ambitious one. I have learned that to survive you must keep from crossing two kinds of people: Mob members and ambitious politicians."

"I don't care about your philosophy. Only about getting that report the way I want it."

"You won't. It is going to go the way it will do the job. I'll send you the bill, honey."

"You won't get paid."

"You'd better."

"What will you do to me? What you did to Torrance? I wear a cross, you know."

"Wear it as long as you like. I know of certain bill collectors. They'll break your arm or your leg. Maybe only your thumb. You get the idea? I can contact them. I'd rather not, but it is bad policy to let one of my under-the-table clients welsh me on a deal."

* * *

The woman came out of her swoon.

"You are still here." she said.

"You seem to have taken it bad." Barnabas said. "I was worried."

"Don't try to con me. I've had worse and you know it. You just want to talk. I am too good a listener for my own good."

"You think so?" Barnabas sat on the bed by her.

"Just do me a favor. Try to come earlier. I am too sleepy and tomorrow I'll look terrible. And it won't be for the blood loss."

"Maybe I should leave."

"I will not risk your coming tomorrow and waking me up again. Unload now."

So he told her. About Torrance not showing up. About Angelique being so sure he has corrupt.

"It is possible, but it is more likely that she does not like him."

"Why wouldn't she like him?" Barnabas was puzzled

"Maybe he made a pass at her. It happens, you know. And maybe he said something about her drinking."

"Her drinking?"

"Don't you know that she drinks? Can 't you smell it on her breath?"

"I had no idea..."

"Well, she does. I do not think that it is out of control yet, but it might come to that."

Barnabas just spread his hands, unable to put in words what he was feeling.

"As for Torrance" she continued. " You should wait until tomorrow before worrying. Somebody might have called him on the phone. Or the session with Carolyn ended up rather late and he went to sleep. He has no way of knowing that you stay up all night."

"Yes, it might be that."

"So don't try going to his room and waking him up. He won't appreciate it, and he might wonder how you got in."

"I will try to be patient. But what if Angelique is right?"

"There you are, worrying again."

"I wish I could learn how to stop it. Worrying never helped me any, but I cannot stop it."

"Try this. Tell yourself that if it can be mended, you will mend it; and if it can't be mended, you'll learn to live with it."

"You sound like Megan."

"I wish you were more like her. At least the guys that meet her get something for their trouble. Don't blush. Sex is nothing to be afraid of. But all you offer is talk, and then you put the bite. And then the other bite, for worthy causes."

"They need the money."

"Yes, but making checks to your favorite charity isn't as much fun as old-fashioned sex" Iris opened his shirt and ran her hand over his chest.

Barnabas tried to get up, unsure.

"You can help me sleep. Sex is very good for that."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Why not? Hell, I don't want to take you away from Angelique. Just have a little fun." She undid his tie. "You look so unhappy; it will do you good. You should learn to relax. They way you look you should have died of a perforated ulcer long ago."

"You do not know what you are proposing."

Barnabas knew that he should leave. But he found out that he wanted to stay. The words "why not?" filled his brain.

"I know. I am making a pass at you. I want to have sex with you. We are already on my bed, and I am on my nightclothes. You take your clothes off and we are ready."

"Aren't you feeling weak?"

"Barnabas Collins, if you try to hypnotize me in order to get out of going to bed with me, you'd better never show up here again." She pulled at his clothes. "Come on. let's do it."

She had to undress him, but once he was naked he lost his shyness. At least lost it enough so that he could do what she wanted and enjoy it too.

"So, it wasn't so terrible, after all" she said, afterwards.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Frank Torrance stared at his typewriter. He wrote. The keys burned at his fingertips as he pounded lies on paper.

"I can't do it." he said to himself "It is my father's life that I am throwing away. It's the pains of my mother that I am spitting upon."

And as he said it. he typed another word.

Megan was stronger than the memory of his mother. His mother was a saint, and Megan little better than a whore. Why should Megan be the one with power? How could she force him to do something he hated?

Dawn was breaking. he should get some sleep. But he couldn't face the thought of waking up and seeing the typewriter demanding that ALL: the lies be written. He'd rather finish now and then go to sleep. And never wake up.

To die...? Yeah, he thought glumly. Kill himself and leave a note. Which of course Megan would never let him do. How he hated her! She was clever, she left no angle uncovered... Even the report she made him do was a clever one. He imagined the kind of report that Mrs. Hawkes would have asked., one that was so patently false that it drew attention to itself.. But not this one. Nobody would notice anything worth suspecting...

Was there anything he could do? He tried to remember what he knew about vampires. They slept all day in coffins. They could be killed with a stake through the heart.

Of course, Megan would never let him try anything like that...

... And if they took too much blood from you, you died and became one of them.

That did not worry him any. She was too practical to want that kind of a mess. And even if it happened, it could not be worse that this infernal typing...

He remembered too what Mrs. Hawkes said about Barnabas. Was he really one of them, too? But if it was so, why didn't he and Megan work together? It made no sense...

But he had sounded so sincere about what happened in the factory...

Maybe it just wasn't true. After all, it was the kind of lie that you expected from somebody as twisted as Mrs. Hawkes.

Yet he had never seen him in the daytime.

He did not see a lot of people in the daytime. Himself he was hidden from view in his desk in the daytime. Only the people in the same department saw him. Barnabas might only be an eccentric. Small towns tended to breed them...

But he had never seen him eat, either. And if something was possible once, it was possible twice.

Could he know the truth? At least he could find if he was playing the same game as Megan. - he almost laughed at the simplicity of it - Try to reach him. Find out if Megan cared about that.

He could not go. Could not even pick up the phone. There was no way he could attempt to reach him, or Angelique, or even that fellow Loomis.

He was condemned to those lies that appeared in black letters over the white paper..

He ran his hand over his throat. If he could reopen the wounds and bled enough for someone to notice, he might yet beat Megan.

He dug into his pockets. He could not do it with a razor. It had to be a needle. He had done. A safety pin, maybe. No luck either.

There must be something he could use... Of course! The ubiquitous paper clip! They were always lying around, and this motel room was no exception.

With a paper clip and nothing else, he might yet beat Mrs. Hawkes.

He went to the bathroom, and looked into the mirror. It was dangerous. He could bleed too long and...

"Whatever happens, it won't be any worse that the typing. And I have to try something."

He examined his neck. He could see the wounds now. he should be able to reopen them easily.

He straightened the paper clip. It would do. Then he rubbed some alcohol on the wire. He also used to disinfect his neck.

It was a little ridiculous, but there was not point in risking infection...

He stared at himself in the mirror. If something went wrong, this could be the last time he saw his face...

Never to see his face again... Suddenly he was scared. He touched the mirror. What it would be like to find all mirrors empty?

Somebody had once told him that **I **is the person whose face you never see, unless you are standing in front of a mirror. Without a mirror, you did not know who you were...

What the Hell, he knew who he was. Somebody who let Mrs. Hawkes get away with it if he could help it.

What would be the thirst be like? What if he killed somebody? Yet, Megan seemed to manage quite nicely without killing. She had said that he had a much worse reaction than the usual ...whatever she called it.

Anyway, it might not happen. What he was sure of, was that if he did nothing, he could be ashamed of seeing himself in a mirror.

He put the wire against one of the wounds and tried to push.

His hand froze. He ordered the arm to push, but his muscles locked in position. He tried to push the neck against the wire. But his neck turned to stone.

He tried again and again, only to be defeated. Megan was the stronger.

He collapsed crying on the bed.

Frank Torrance left for Washington the following day. He did not talk to anyone. He did not have the heart to. He just packed his bags and left.

Later, when Barnabas went to see him, he met the empty motel room.

* * *

Barnabas tried calling Torrance in Washington, rather stupidly, since he would still be on the road. Then he tried Maggie.

She wasn't at home. He tried her office, but only a staffer answered. The woman recognized him and tried to help him, but he felt lost talking to this complete stranger. Representative Evans had gone to a party, and she would not return home until much later. Then she told him who was giving the party**.**

The name struck him. He knew the party giver, and what he knew of him was not good. That he had not been indicted meant only that digging proof was a difficult business... he had very good lawyers.

And now Maggie had gone to one of his parties... After all the promises of clean government, she went to one of those parties...

Maybe Angelique was right. About Torrance. And about Maggie.

No, Maggie was not like that. He knew her. He had loved her once. He had been wrong. She was not Josette and could never be. But she deserved his loyalty.

He had to wait until Torrance got to Washington. Try to contact him then. Ask him what happened at the meeting between him and Carolyn.

He wished he could talk with someone. Angelique had left. When he had gotten up he had found a note saying that Chris had called her about a job, and that she would not be back for a couple of days.

Iris. No, not Iris. He should be ashamed of what had happened the other night, but he found that he couldn't. He had enjoyed it. It was nothing serious, Iris had told him. He could stay with Angelique.

But when was the last time that he had enjoyed it as much with Angelique as he had with Iris?

And what had she told him about Angelique? Did she really drink? he remembered what drink had done to Willie.

Willie. Maybe he could talk to him. Maybe Willie could tell him what to do.

* * *

"Do you know what time it is? Willie was still half asleep "all right, come in. What's the problem?"

"How do you know I have a problem?"

"The way you look."

He went in. Louella gave him a sour look, but greeted him.

"Do you want a cup of coffee?" she offered him.

"No thanks"

"Maybe tea." her smile was a little too sweet.

"No, really, I do not want anything."

'"Honey" said Willie "please stop".

"All right" she stiffened and left the room.

"What's wrong?"

"She knows very well that you don't take coffee and why." Willie shrugged. "It is not her fault. She's been listening to Quentin too much lately. She's got the idea in her head that she'll be damned if she gets too friendly with you. And she wants to save me from the same fate... I'll have to talk to Quentin about that. If he wants to forget all you've done for him, that's his business. But my wife is another matter."

"Maybe Quentin is right. You can see how he changed since he converted."

"Not for the better, if you ask me. But Quentin is not what's in your mind, is it?"

So Barnabas told him. About Frank Torrance. His initial impression of him. his actions. That last meeting with Carolyn. Angelique's suspicions. He even told enough about Iris for Willie to guess the rest.

"I tried to call Maggie, but she wasn't at either her apartment of her office."

"Probably out having fun. She's earned it."

"I know how she's having fun." said Barnabas glumly.

He explained what he had found out about her.

Willie wondered what the fuss was about. Did he expect her only to meet kosher people in Capitol Hill?

Then he realized that that was exactly what he expected. He had forgotten how naive he could be. Specially where Maggie was concerned.

Himself, he had no illusions about her. She did really want to do a good job as a Representative. But she was ambitious and could be ruthless. Barnabas didn't realize how dangerous standing in her way could be.

This Torrance business... Maggie could do little favors for him, but to expect her to go to bat against a man with a reputation for integrity on his say-so...

He had somehow to get this through him. But how? he'd need plenty of time for it. And how to keep him off the phone on the meantime?

Then the idea hit him.

"Well, if Mahomet doesn't go to the mountain... Why don't you go to Washington and talk it out with him?"

"Go to Washington? How?"

"I've got the van, don't I? I'll put you in the back and we'll manage quite nicely. You can drive part of the time. Only swear to me one thing. Don't even think of driving in Washington. The rest, we can manage. But not that. You can drive here and on the open road. But driving in a big city, you try it, and we'll end up in the accident statistics."

"But to go to Washington... I've never been out of town...since..."

"About time you did, then... On the phone, he can lie to you if he's the smooth operator that Angelique says he is. Face to face, it might be more difficult to string you along. Also, we'll see Maggie."

Maggie was a good bait. For all his denials, he was still in love with her. Well, he'd have time to talk about it on the road.

"All right, then Willie. We'll go."

"Fine. We have to figure out the details. And I have to tell Louella that we are leaving" he laughed quietly. "I hope she does not raise much of a stink."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Louella Loomis fumed at home. So she didn't matter. He had gone away, left her alone to take care of the business. After all the promises he had made her when he had gone on the wagon, he did this to her.

He took Barnabas to Washington.

"He never took _me_ to Washington" she said to herself. "But this...this thing has only to snap its fingers..."

She picked up a book. She tried to read, but was too nervous to pay attention. She knew that she was being a bit unfair, but only a bit. She was angry. Willie had no right to say the things he did. She was not self-righteous.

Maybe she had sounded more sure of herself than she really was. Specially about Barnabas...She didn't like the idea of him and Willie in the same van for so many hours. He already had had one accident with Megan, what if he had one with Willie?

And why couldn't he face the cross? Willie had not been able to answer that one. Instead he had called her a religious fanatic, a Jesus freak, and a superstitious nincompoop.

He had no right to say that. Her faith meant much to her. She wasn't credulous, but she had seen the difference Jesus made in the life of people. Like Quentin Collins.

She smiled when she thought of Quentin,. He was such a wonderful man. Gentle, caring, dedicated. He always had a warm word and a smile for her. If only more people were like him...

If only Willie were more like him...

The phone rang. It was Willie.

"Where are you?"

'In a roadside cafe...Oh, baby, I miss you so!"

"I miss you too."

"Honey, can you forgive me for all the things I said to you?"

"Of course" she lied.

"I was so wrong. I called you stuffy, overbearing, and nosy;. I didn't know the meaning of those words until yesterday."

"What happened?" Fear gripped her.

"He's trying my patience like Hell. A few minutes more and I would have wrung his neck. First he threw away all the aerosol cans I still had around, in order to save the ozone layer. Then he asked me when was the last time I had the truck overhauled because it gave out too much pollution and wasted too much energy. The way he talked you would believe I caused the energy shortage all by myself. When I tried to smoke it was lung cancer time. When I threw a paper out of the window, I was not only a litterbug but also a Soviet agent the way he reacted. And when he saw the old Playboy issues I had..."

"So that's where you keep Playboy!"

"They are old, Louella, please. Don't you start, too. I already got my lecture on that... And he is a backseat driver too... Hey, why are you laughing? This isn't funny.

"I'm sorry. Only when I heard you say you had problems with him, I imagined something... different."

"What? Oh, that thing. No, that does not give us any problems."

"How do you manage?"

"We have blood sausage in the refrigerator, and he makes do with it. Oh, honey, I miss you."

"Serves you right for having Playboy around. You know how I feel about it."

"Please honey, not now. Just tell me that you love me, that you trust me, and that you don't mind if I smoke."

"I love you. I trust you. I don't mind if you smoke." she crossed her fingers. "When will you be back?"

"We figure about a week, because he want to see the sights. I'll see if I can pick something for you there."

"Just come back. And don't anything like this to me again."

* * *

Angelique was back. Megan was there to welcome her as soon as she opened the door. She gave her the news as she changed into a bathrobe and slippers.

"Willie told me what happened in Washington. Maggie said she'd try but it will difficult. He'd have to pass a Civil Service test, and prove that he's an American citizen."

"You know that he is."

"Yes. He's even Early American. But he's got no papers to prove it. And then there is the IRS. When he start paying taxes they might want to look at his previous payments. What if they decide he owes back taxes?

"I hadn't thought of that before."

"Well, I have. I'll have to fix it, but it will be harder. I'll have to fiddle with computers in Washington.

"You are trying to tell me that it will be expensive."

"Yes, but in this case I'll extend credit. Or even do it for free."

"In exchange for what, later?"

"I might need some favors, when he has the job. Some information he may come across and I might use. Nothing illegal, or that he might feel strongly against."

"You don't even know if he'll get the job."

"Why not? There are plenty of things for which he is qualified. And the register is open for the kind of thing we got planned. And with some connections.."

"I wonder if Maggie would do that for him. Little favors she'll do. But better not ask her to choose between her political career and him... If she was in love with him it might be different."

"It would make no difference. Ambitious politicians, not matter how idealistic, have a very ruthless streak in them. That's how they survive. But it is not just Maggie."

"Who else?

"Frank Torrance" she saw the change in Angelique's expression and added, feigning naiveté. "I mean, the two of them seemed to hit it off rather well. And Frank has got his eye on you. He'll get Barnabas a job to make it easy on his conscience for trying to take you away from Barnabas."

"Is that all?"

"Good enough for me" she shrugged, trying to give nothing away.

Better not let Angelique suspect that Carolyn was the one really paying for Barnabas' job. Nor that Maggie had pitched in, ready for anything that would keep Barnabas safely away in Collinsport... Maybe she could get Angelique to pay for it, too...

If things went on as expected, Barnabas would get his job and a grateful friend in Frank Torrance. And a pipeline to Washington that did not pass through Maggie. Maggie would get relief for the headache he represented. Carolyn would fix the factory, without fuss, scandal, fines, nor Federal jail, as it would have happened if she handled it herself.

Barnabas would certainly hate to have Carolyn arrested.

So in this business she might collect three times: from Carolyn, from Maggie, and perhaps Angelique.

She wondered if there was someone else that she could have collected from.

* * *

"All right, Barnabas. Your turn to drive."

Willie slid out of the driver's seat. He was tired. Yet he had to talk to Barnabas. He had to be told about the job that Megan was trying to get for him. Last night he had tried to, but those lectures made him lose his temper... No wonder Angelique drank.

"There is something I have to tell you."

"Yes?" Barnabas said absentmindedly wile turning the wheel.

"Megan and I have been looking at your finances."

"My finances? he did not understand.

"We wanted to know how much money you had left."

"I've got plenty."

"You have not. You are touching bottom. She explained it to me. She gave me the figures. You can check them yourself, if you don't believe me. We'll get you a job, and she agreed to give you documents too."

Barnabas said nothing. Willie guessed that he was facing the facts, and that he found them frightening. he watched the hands at the wheel. Maybe it had been a bad idea to tell him the bad news while driving...

"I am scared, Willie" he finally admitted "I haven 't held a job since... I have never held a job. And what can I do? I can't even keep regular hours..."

"It it gets to that, you can work for Chris. Or you can help me in the store..."

"You'd take me out of charity..."

"Only until you started to pull your weight. And you can do it. You adapted to worse things before. And Megan can teach you how to hustle if things get bad enough. That widow, Iris White, has got her eye on you, and certainly will try to help you. So would Angelique. You have many friends that won't let you drown."

"But what could I possibly do? I have no skills, no degrees, no experience, nothing... And these Megan can't give me."

"How many collection drives you handled? How many times have you collected signatures for this or that? Weren't you an excellent campaign manager for Maggie? Don't you think that you have made enough contacts who would give you a reference if you asked them? And some of the people you met have jobs in the Federal Government now. Couldn't they squeeze you in? " he though about having Barnabas start his own business but thought better of it. _That _he was not qualified to do. 'You can make surveys over the phone. You can do census work. You can do free-lance writing..."

"I wish I had your confidence."

"What about the areas you have knowledge of? Planned parenthood? Guidance counseling? Organizing lobbying efforts for other people's projects? Go to work for AA. You straightened me up, didn't you? Drug counseling?"

"Yes...maybe that..."

Poor Barnabas. He was scared half out of his mind. Now he felt guilty for losing his temper yesterday. It was so easy to forget how vulnerable he was. Since he was always straightening everybody else's problems, nobody seemed to remember that he might have problems of his own. Yet he daily lived under what could be called an impossible situation. He hadn't adjusted to it yet.

He remembered Louella's taunting words. "If he is such a great guy and everything is all right with him, why can't he look at the cross?" He wished he knew the answer to that. Being angry at Louella was not an answer. Maybe he should ask Megan about that. Maybe it was just psychosomatic. he was just hurting himself without any need to..

It was so unfair...the whole thing was so unfair...


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Got any idea why Maggie in Washington would want to discuss one of our cases now? Chris Jennings asked Megan.

"I do not know. Which one?"

"Those fugitive terrorists."

"Probably trying to write some legislation on terrorism. Well, I'll look it up for you."

Chris suspected why Maggie had called. She needed Megan again to do under the table work for her. What it was, he'd rather not know. His policy was to never ask Megan any questions. In a couple of years he'd be able to either buy Megan off, or have her buy him off. But until then, they were stuck with Megan, no matter how little Sabrina liked it.

So, the less he knew about Megan's activities, the better his chances of staying out of jail.

Strange,, though, that Megan would take jobs from Maggie. After all, one of her favorite sayings was to keep away from Mob members and ambitious politicians.

Strange of Maggie, too. On the record, she was the only person who did not know what might be wrong with Barnabas. If she was found hiring Megan, that denial would not be believed...

Well, neither of them was his problem. His problem was establishing his complete ignorance of what went on.

"It would be better if you called Maggie. I am kind of busy myself."

Megan liked Chris for things like these. He could figure out what to do and say without help.

But why would Maggie called her twice in the same month?

Maggie was habitually cautious, so this might mean she had panicked...

Ten to one, she had found out that Barnabas was on his way to Washington. That was really something to phone about. Barnabas HAD been her first campaign manager, and might still be if Willie had not convinced him to drop it. In Washington there would be a lot of people happy to catch him at anything, even if it was spitting on the sidewalk.

So she had to phone Maggie quickly and reassure her. Barnabas could find his way in Washington. -she chose her words carefully in her mind. "I know, he's not been in a big city for a long time. He's shut himself here too long. But Willie will take care of him, and not let him drive there. He'll make sure he understands how to handle himself there. He'll be told what to expect" here a pregnant pause to suggest all the troubles a man from a small town might find himself in when going to a big city for the first time.

Maggie worried about one specific kind of trouble, but that could not be mentioned over the phone.

You never knew who might be taping it.

* * *

"Bad luck, Barnabas" said Willie. "There are twenty Frank Torrances in the directory. Didn't he give you his address?"

"No" Barnabas sighed "I guess we'll have to call all of them. or we could ask Maggie to give us a hand."

"I do not think it is a good idea to involve Maggie in this. We might be getting ourselves, and her too, in trouble."

"You know that I am not going to touch anybody, the same way I didn't on the road."

"You might have to do it to Torrance. If he's corrupt, he might want to make trouble for you and Maggie."

"I do not think that he knows about me to give me real trouble." Barnabas chuckled.

"He does not need to. Just call the IRS to harass you. Just go on a fishing expedition... But what they could find..."

"I see... The same reason why I could not handle any more campaigns for Maggie."

"The same reason... well, we have to make the phone calls.."

"I guess you are right... how much change have you got?"

"Not enough for twenty calls. Better wait a while until I get it. And pray I don't get mugged on the way."

Willie went to the candy shop on the opposite side of the street while Barnabas dialed the first number. He had to wait behind three other customers before he got the change he wanted.

When he came back, the expression on Barnabas' face told him that he had not needed to.

"I got him, Willie. On the third call. He hung up when I said who I was, but I recognized the voice."

"Did you tell him you are in Washington?"

"No.:

"Then you and I are going to visit him now. Let's see his address."

* * *

Frank Torrance was trying to drink himself dead when Willie and Barnabas knocked at his door. Willie disguised his voice to get them through both the entrance door and de department door.

He should not have bothered. Torrance was past caring about anything. He had finished and sent the report. And now he drank hoping to find that it was all a bad dream.

"So it is you." he said when he saw both of them at his door.

Willie guessed immediately that Torrance was pickled.

"Better make coffee" he told Barnabas "I'll put him in the shower. This character seems to be soaking himself internally in alcohol..

Willie took him to the bathroom. Whatever had happened, Frank Torrance was not happy about it. He looked just like Barnabas when he was feeling guilty. He started undressing him. No sense in ruining good clothes in the shower.

'Hey!" he called at Barnabas. "Look at this. He met Megan."

Barnabas knelt by Torrance's side and looked at the wounds.

"Could this be why he got out of town so fast?"

"She's a cute trick, that Megan" said Torrance bitterly. "I have been offered bribes before. I have been threatened. Some people have put pressure on me. but that Hawkes bitch decided to do it original.. the bitch... both of them bitches..."

"So that's what happened" muttered Willie "At least we know that he wasn't bought."

"Carolyn did that? To him?"

"Barnabas, will you ever get the idea into your head that she is not little sweet Carolyn anymore? Yes, she did that. She's capable of worse."

They got Torrance into the shower. It was cold enough to wake him up. He swore heartily at them when the water hit him. Fully awake, he grabbed a towel and ordered them out of the bathroom.

"I am not getting dressed in front of you, creeps!"

He came out a moment later, wrapped in a bathrobe.

"You came all the way from Maine just to see me?"

"Yes, Mr. Torrance." said Barnabas "I wondered why you never called back. I want to apologize for my suspicions of you. You didn't sell out. They got around you, and I know how."

"Well,," Willie said "I understand you feeling lousy. You must be the only guy that Megan didn't have sex with before biting."

"Megan" Torrance said to Barnabas "you know what she is... Mrs. Hawkes said that you too..."

"This is going to be a long talk." Barnabas said to Willie. "better to check if the water I put for coffee is boiling.

It was amazing - Willie thought - how Barnabas changed when there was a problem to be taken care of. He stopped worrying and moping all in a flash and took charge.

"I guess you deserve an explanation" Barnabas said to Torrance "I am like Megan is. I am the one responsible for her condition."

"That's what the Hawkes bitch said."

'Please don't call her a bitch. I know. What she did is wrong, but she's been through a lot...About that, she didn't lie."

Barnabas sat down and looked away from Torrance.

"What happened with Megan was an accident. I should have been more careful. I am more careful now, but what I have done cannot be fixed...I wish I could get out of it. But I haven't found a way. Yet. In the meantime there is work to be done and I seem to be the one who is always drafted for it."

"I see" Torrance was sure that he did not understand anything about it.

"Now I have your problem to solve. How bad is it?"

"After...after what happened I could not get to you. I couldn't tell anyone what happened...I tried to reopen the wounds to see if someone noticed."

"That was dangerous. You know what could have happened to you."

"Join the club, you mean?" Torrance had a little laugh " Well, I figured I could go to work for the IRS...Anyway, I could not even do that."

"Do you know what it was like to write that report?" he added, vehemently. "Do you know how sick it made me?"

He told the, in one breathless spurt about his father spitting his lungs out, and his mother's struggles so that he could have an education. Only to be betrayed by that false report that he had finished that morning...

"How bad is that report?"

"It is a subtle job. It substantiates the charges, It says that they constituted an inherited situation. You see, up to now is the truth. Then comes the lie. Under the present management improvements have started and the plant should fill all requirements before long."

"Which means that if the improvements started, the report would be true."

'You going to do to her what Megan did to me?" Torrance laughed. "that would fix her."

"I hope I don't have to." Barnabas shuddered at the thought. "We are not in the best of relationships, she and I. She hates me, and I wish she didn't. If I did what you said, she'd never forgive me... and I want very much to be her friend again."

"Why does she hate you?"

"Because I never could keep my nose out of everybody else's business. You know what happened to her mother?"

"Yes."

"I refused to cut off Elizabeth. I even tried to explain to Carolyn why her mother had done it. I also let David stay at my place when he comes visiting from the commune. For her, David does not exist. And I stole her housekeeper by encouraging her to go to college. We never agreed on political issues either. If I didn't wear a 'Don't blame me, I voted for McGovern' button was mainly I was not a registered voter."

"Are you now?"

"Yes. I got to vote for Carter."

"You also managed Ms. Evans' first campaign."

"Which probably might not be a good idea to have it known... not if what they tell of Washington is true."

"Well" Torrance shrugged "all politicians have at least one skeleton in their closet. As far as those go, you are better than Tongsun Park."

"Coffee is ready" Willie came in "Well, Mr. Torrance, since you are in a better mood, don't you think it is about time that you poured down the drain all the bottles that you have stashed away?"

"By all means." Torrance lighted a cigarette and laid himself back.

"You should quit smoking, too." Barnabas told him. "do you realize what this stuff is doing to your lungs?"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Maggie smiled crookedly. How had Barnabas managed the idea of coming to Washington? Did he truly understand that Washington wasn't Collinsport? Could he get through his skull that he was risking an FBI file? Megan had tried to reassure her on that point. But would Barnabas take Megan's advice?

He could be so careless and naive, sometimes - she rubbed her throat - he had taken blood from her several times, even during the campaign, yet he believed with unshakeable faith that she knew nothing of his condition..

The way he trusted her was unbelievable. She could be shooting dope in front of his nose and he wouldn't notice.

She dug out of a drawer a small cross on a chain and put it around her neck. No sense risking her political enemies find out what he was about.

Who was she kidding? That was not what she was afraid of. What had happened to Megan could happen to her. He had been depressed when he had had that accident. As depressed as he sounded on the phone, if she believed the staffer's report. Depressed enough not to give a damn about anything.

If at least she knew what he was depressed about, she could promise him help. Maybe get him out of his blue funk. Maybe get him the job she'd promised Willie she'd look for.

A job that would keep him grounded in Maine and out of trouble.

Then Barnabas came through the door, smiling.

"Hello, Maggie, it is good to see you again."

"You look great yourself " she relaxed "you had me worried. They told me you sounded terrible on the phone."

"It is over now. I was worried because it was my first trip to /Washington in many years. But now I am fine and wondering why I didn't do this before."

He was lying, she knew it. There was something that he believed Maggie should not know. She agreed with that. She could get the whole story out of Megan later.

"Willie was here not too long ago. He told me that you might be looking for a job. I might be able to help you there" this time she meant it. "You did a good job on that first campaign,. and I still miss you."

She checked herself. The last thing she needed is to have him volunteering to come back.

"I can contact many people" she continued "give you excellent references."

"You are too kind."

"No more than you deserve. Speaking of something else, how are you and Angelique doing? Still living in sin?"

"Well... it's complicated..."

"Oh, I am sorry. I did not know the two of you were having troubles."

"We are not fighting, precisely " Barnabas was defensive.

"You just go around to thinking that maybe the two of you do not belong together."

"No... I love her... I like her.."

"But now she seems to be a stranger."

Maggie wondered why she wanted to dig out the details of Barnabas' relationship with Angelique. She had nothing to gain by intervening, but something in her impelled her to go on.

"And I think she might feel the same towards you." she continued.

"She does" Barnabas said simply, finally aware of something that had been nagging at him for a long time.

"Maybe you should try to get to know each other again."

Barnabas wondered if he could talk about Angelique's drinking, and how he had been told of it by Iris... He began to miss Iris... Nothing permanent, just a little fun and games, as she said. But it had done him a lot of good.

No, he could not tell that to Maggie. It wasn't only because he would have to explain what he was doing in Iris' bedroom. It was that Maggie was not the kind of person he could confide his sexual escapades to.

"I guess we will have to work it out by ourselves. But what about you? How you find your job?"

"Can be very frustrating. Things never go as fast or as well as you want them to. But still, they go. And once you stop gripping about time and effort wasted, you can appreciate how much gets done. Never as much as you wanted, thought..."

"From what I see from home, you are doing a good job."

"Have to, if I want to be reelected."

* * *

Frank Torrance and Willie shared coffee and cookies in the kitchen.

"From what you tell me he's quite a guy. He needs a job, right?"

"One that does not require a nine-to-five schedule."

"That could be a snag." Torrance thought for a moment. "but if he stayed put in town it could be arranged. They all know about him. Have to, or they would not have done such a good job of keeping me off track when I wanted to see him in the daytime."

'Yes, they do know about him in town."

"How come they accept him?"

"How come you accept him yourself now?"

"First I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to care. That report was eating me alive. And then he offered to fix it... To tell the truth, as long as he delivered I couldn't care less."

"More or less the same thing happened in town. There was something more important going on at the time. They were fighting Carolyn, and he was on their side. He had been quite helpful in the past years. When they found out what he was, what most of them worried was what it did to Maggie's chances in the election."

"That's what I call valid reasoning. What wasa so important about Maggie...eer... Ms. Evans being elected?"

"Collinsport is a one-industry town. You work for the Collins family or you don't work at all. They literally own the town. Roger, with all his faults, they could put up with. But Carolyn pushed them too far. She wanted to punish them for what her mother had done."

"So they decided to do something about it. And that Something was sending Ms. Evans to Congress"

"Right. Barnabas managed her campaign then, and Carolyn hit where it could hurt the most."

"She told the townspeople that he was a vampire, and hoped that they did what people usually do to vampires."

"She might have gotten away with it, if the townspeople had not been so fed up with her, and if she had chosen better timing that the middle of a heated political campaign. So they gave him a chance to explain. I was with him when he did, and for a while it was a close call. He acknowledged that he had put a number of women through a bad time, but he had done then no permanent harm, and asked them to forgive him."

"What about Megan?"

"That had been an accident. Which would not happen again. And God knows that worse accidents happen with guns or cars." Willie laughed. "that was a good argument. Too many of them had close calls with their cars or guns not to appreciate it."

"What did Megan say about that?"

"The speech was her idea."

"What's her game? What side she is on?"

"She's on her own side. Barnabas told me yesterday that the main difference between him and her was that she figured early that she would never be able to hold a nine-to-five job. She had to take care of herself, and she did. When her husband died, it hurt her hard. She's a nympho, by the way. If you had met her under different circumstances you'd have found out. For the most part she has been a good friend to us."

"What about the guy she works for? Does he know about her?"

"He does, but what can he do? He owes her too many favors. And then he's a werewolf."

"A what?"

"He turns into a wolf every full moon. Or at least used to. Megan helped him to keep it under control. Now he turns into a wolf any time he wants, and keeps his mind in that shape. he finds it very helpful for shadowing jobs or following scents. Megan as the one to loan the money to start the agency. So if she does a few jobs under the table, what can he say?"

"Is there anything else about the Collinsport people I should know about? Is there anything weird about Ms. Evans?"

"Her former campaign manager. Angelique is a witch. Her brother is a warlock, at least was before he lost his powers and survives by selling swampland in Florida. I was dumb enough to buy some of it... There are a few ghosts that come and go, and a few people have second sight."

"What about that fellow, Quentin?"

"I'd forgotten about him. He's accident prone. And has been granted eternal youth."

"Where do I go to get a deal like that?"

"You wouldn't like it, Quentin never grows old, and he never grows up. He's the same spoiled child he was sixty years ago. Now he's on a Jesus tack. God knows what it will be tomorrow. In the meantime he lectures everybody and looks down his nose at everyone he meets."

"You don't like him, I see."

"I don't. Barnabas is a pest, too. But you know what is underneath and you respect him. Underneath Quentin the only thing you'll find are a five-year-old's temper tantrums. His problem is that he is so charming and good looking that nobody every did him the favor of kicking him in the butt."

"You planning to kick Quentin?" Barnabas' voice came from behind them.

"One of these days I will. How did your meeting with Maggie go?"

"Quite well. She said she'd help me find a job."

"I could help you too." said Torrance "I owe it to you, after all. Just get me a resume. Write one, stretching the truth at times, get some references to go with it, and I'll see what I can do."

"Would you really do that for me?"

"You are just the kind of person I believe we need in the Government. You came to Washington in the back of a van, after staying at home for too long. It must have been frightening for you. It was quite a risk, meeting people you did not know, and who very likely would not understand. But you came, because you cared that I did the job I was supposed to do... You belong in the Civil Service, and as God is my witness, I will get you in."

"You are too kind to me. But thank you."

"Don't thank me yet... Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"It is about Angelique and you. Are you two happy? Is living with her what you really want?"

"Why should you ask?" Barnabas tensed. Why was everybody concerned about the subject?

"Because I know that she is not happy. She drinks. When I went to your place and you weren't there, she was getting stoned. I don't know what the story is between you two, but you are only hurting yourselves. It isn't fair for either of you."

'He's right, Barnabas. Neither of you look happy. Why be stubborn? Tell her it's over. Lend her a shoulder to cry on,\ and help her pack her bags."

"But..." Barnabas wanted to protest, but could not find the heart to do it. "tell her so suddenly?"

"It's the best way. Before the drink gets the better of her. She will cry, and the next day she will find that the world is still there, and she will get to work."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Chris looked at himself in the mirror. Not bad, his new suit. Gave him the right look. Somebody with authority, yet neither stuffy nor tyrannical. He looked 'with it' and in command."

Nobody who came into the agency would have any doubts as to who ran the place.

He did not own it yet. But after a couple of years it would be a different story. By then, he'd have enough money and contacts to manage without Megan's help.

He saw Barnabas at the entrance. He wondered what he was there for. From what he had gleaned from eavesdropping, it was Megan he was looking for.

Somebody should tell that knucklehead to use the back door for that kind of a deal.

He lit a pipe. It was the right pipe to go with his image.

"Hello, Barnabas" he said. "It this a business or a social call?"

"I wish you wouldn't smoke. Do you know what that stuff does to your lungs?"

Chris put away the pipe temporarily.

"I've been trying to quit, lately" he lied "Anyway, pipe smokers don't inhale."

"You can still catch cancer of the throat, or of the tongue, as Freud did."

"I know" Chris shrugged "but you did not tell me why you are here, yet."

"Could I talk to you in private?"

Chris took him to his private office. It wasn't long that he had had it refurbished, and he loved to show it.

"We are alone now. What is it?

"Megan. Lately she seems to be doing certain kinds of illegal work."

"You found out?"

"You knew?"

"In what world you live in, Barnabas? Why do you think she loaned me the money to start this business in the first place? Our arrangement was that I would be her front for any under the table work she did."

"And you accepted?"

"Where else would I have got the money to get started? And I owed her a favor too. When you think about it, the stuff she does might be more than slightly illegal, but it's necessary. You should know. How else could you have gotten registered to vote in the last election? Plus any documents you might need in the future."

"She's just committed a Federal Crime. Assaulting a Federal officer."

"Wow! That's serious! What happened?"

"The OSHA inspector. She attacked him."

Chris let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, only that. He won't complain. None of the them do."

"She used it to make him write a false report. Carolyn paid her to do it."

That was an entirely different matter. Knowing Barnabas as he did, he was sure he would not accuse Carolyn unless he really believed it.

'You are right. That's a serious matter."

"We have our own Watergate. Carolyn can go to Federal jail for it. So can Megan. And what about you, if you can't convince them that you didn't know what was going on. And all the other stuff will come out."

"Including that you go around with false documents, and why."

"I cannot let Carolyn get away with it."

"Even if it means explaining your own...peculiar habits?"

"I hope it does not get to that. But somebody might get on the trail. Some would-be Woodward or Bernstein. And they can find plenty we wish to keep secret."

"You are right."

That was the baffling thing about Barnabas. He could be thoroughly impractical for hours. then he would focus dead right on the problem and say the most sensible thing.

"I do not think that we can hope for a Presidential pardon.."

"He's right, Chris." Sabrina said as she came into the office.

"You heard what he said? Christ turned to her.

"Everything. You left the intercom on." She smiled at Barnabas "That's the trouble with expensive gadgets like that. They screw you. But you like to throw money on them and other useless stuff, instead of saving it to buy Megan off."

"We can't afford to buy her off, yet. She's the one who has the contacts. And only her money kept us from going under when we started."

"We could still manage it if you didn't insist on throwing your money away. Any time you want to buy something, you buy the most expensive."

"I only want good quality."

"You only want status symbols, even if they turn out to be lemons."

Barnabas started to leave, embarrassed.

"No, don't leave" said Sabrina "since you know so much, you might as well know the rest."

"There is no need to air our dirty linen in public "Chris affected an outraged tone "He doesn't complain about Angelique in public."

"Please" Barnabas found himself separating Chris and Sabrina bodily "what are we going to do about Megan?"

Barnabas wanted very much to go home and forget the whole thing. He had believed that Chris and Sabrina were happily married. He wasn't ready for this. If he had not promised Torrance, he'd leave now.

"We are going to need a plan" he said quietly.

* * *

Angelique was typing a report for Chris. She kept hitting the wrong keys. Finally she tore the sheet out of the machine and put in a new one.

Barnabas came behind her. He squeezed her shoulders affectionately.

"So you are back."

"Yes."

"Things are not going too well?"

"Could be worse."

"And it isn't just the job?"

"It's mainly the job. And I still have to finish this report."

"Leave it. It can wait. I need to talk to you."

"Chris wants it tomorrow."

"Chris has other things to worry about. I have just met him."

Angelique felt his discomfort as he said this.

"What is wrong?"

Him and Sabrina had a fight in front of me."

"They do that a lot" Angelique shrugged "Poor Sabrina. She thought that marrying a werewolf was something special, and he turned out to be another sell-out to the Establishment."

"But they were so much in love when they married."

"But they had the wrong idea about each other."

"Did that happen to us?"

"What you mean?" Angelique tuned quickly around and faced Barnabas, alarmed.

"You are unhappy."

"Where did you get that idea?

"You drink, too:." he sighed "I know what you look like when you are happy, and I haven't seen that look for too long. Maybe I am just not the man for you. Look at me! I get on people's nerved. I am impractical, insecure, and preachy."

"You are a fine person and I love you."

"I am unbearable. You know how much Willie likes me? One night in his van and he was ready to kill me. Is that the same with you?"

"I never..."

"Don't lie. Don't be afraid of hurting me. I know that I am no bargain. But you think it is your duty to remain."

"My duty?" she became pale.

"If I was cured tomorrow, you'd think that your debt with me is cancelled and you'd walk out.

She slapped him.

"Good. I had forgotten what it was like when you were angry."

"Please, don't say those things."

"We have to talk about it, sooner or later. We cannot go on not talking about this and not talking about that. And in the meantime you drink yourself insensible. You drink, don't you?"

Angelique nodded.

"But I can stop anytime I want to." she said miserably.

"Only you do not want to... The same as Willie before I sobered him up."

"It just gets to be too much..."

"And you have nobody to share it with."

"Nobody."

"Not even me. And I should be the first to know. But I am the last person you'll confide in. And I am also the last person to notice what is going on. Is that the way people in love are supposed to act?"

Angelique shook her head tearfully.

Barnabas wondered if his commitment to honesty should include Iris when Angelique saved him the trouble of deciding.

"You already found somebody else."

"That short fling I had with Iris hardly qualifies. She only wanted a... how you call it? one-night-stand."

"Iris! Iris White? She's had her eye on you for long. And now you want her instead of me."

"And you need a bottle to live with me." he cradled her in his arms. "It meant nothing. But she could relax in my arms. You cannot. I had forgotten how it felt to be able to relax. And the whole point of loving is that. knowing that there is a person who will always understand and accept us, even if we are not perfect,,, You and I stopped being in love with each other a while back."

"So?"

"So we should part. For a while. You should try to stop drinking, and it would be better if I wasn't around to get on your nerves. Maybe later we could give it another try. But now, think of yourself and do what really pleases you."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Roger let them in. He looked so old that nobody would recognize in him the man who once ran the Collins business, martinet fashion.

"What do you want?" he asked sharply

"We have to talk to Carolyn." Sabrina said.

"About what?"

"Business."

"What kind of business? Roger stared hard at the trio of Barnabas, Chris, and Sabrina "No, you come for something else. It has to do with that Torrance man. You do not like that Carolyn stood up to him..."

"It is more complicated than that. Carolyn may be in trouble."

Roger reacted violently to those words of Barnabas.

"In trouble? Will you make trouble for her? Will you do to her the same thing you did to Nixon?"

"I did nothing to Nixon."

"Didn't you? You'll try to make me believe that you spent the day lying in a coffin, when I know what you were really framing Nixon."

Barnabas turned, speechless, to Sabrina.

"Come on, Roger. Stop acting stupid" she said.

"And you too... Why won't you take me as a client?"

"You'd be wasting your money."

"You say that because you are in the conspiracy too... You want me to believe that Nixon wasn't framed. You are all in it. You, your husband, my bloodsucking cousin here, Maggie Evans..."

"You have told it all before. It does not make it true."

"You think I am crazy. You tell people I am crazy. Well, let me tell you, I am not. I haven't run away to a commune. I haven't married my son's fiancée. I don't grow fur on full moon nights. I don't need blood on a regular basis. And I am not crazy."

"Please Roger..." Barnabas pleaded, helplessly.

Sabrina looked at the walls. Carolyn had done little remodeling since becoming the new mistress of Collinwood. But she had taken off Barnabas's portrait off the wall. She hadn't replaced it with any other picture nor tried to cover up the marks on the wall. She had expelled him and did not want anyone to forget it Also gone were the portraits of her mother. Sabrina guessed that all the photographs of Elizabeth and David had been purged off the family album. Carolyn was very thorough in her hatred.

"Well will Carolyn be back?" Chris was conciliatory.

"I will not let you hurt her.."

"We don't want to hurt her" There was condescension in Chris's voice.

"Don't talk to me as if I was an idiot. You are lying and I know it."

"You are right" Barnabas said "Carolyn is in trouble. We are trying to keep her out of jail."

"You are framing her" Roger went white. "Same as Nixon,"

The sound of a car in the driveway reached them. They turned their heads momentarily to follow the sound. When they looked at Roger again, he was brandishing a gun.

"Out of here, the three of you!"

"Leave the gun, Roger" Sabrina inched up towards him "You might hurt yourself."

"I might hurt one of you. In fact, I _will _hurt one of you if you don't go now."

Carolyn was parking the car outside. Chris moved towards Roger on the side, ready to grab the gun.

"Don't move, you mangy dog "Roger said to him, slowly "or I'll blow your brains off. Nobody here tries anything or I start shooting."

"Roger" Barnabas advanced "please give me the gun."

"No. I won't. Let me tell you what I think. I am sick and tired of putting up with you, bleeding heart liberals. You take away all that's ours, little by little, and order us around as if we were dirt. And we take it. I want everyone to know that at last here is someone who stopped taking it. I want them to know that they too can stop taking it..."

He couldn't finish. Sabrina jumped him from the side and kicked the gun off his hand. Chris picked up the gun as Carolyn opened the door.

"What is going on here?" she asked.

"Roger pulled a gun on us." Sabrina told her.

"You come all the way here to make Roger pull a gun on you?"

"No, we want to talk about Frank Torrance."

"Torrance?" she feigned unconcern.

"Can't we talk in private?"

"Why can't Uncle Roger stay?"

"Because he might have yet another gun." Sabrina said, cruelly.

"I see. All right, then." she turned to Chris "since all you seem to be doing is staying around, you might as well do some work and take Roger away."

Roger tried to protest, but Carolyn patted in in the shoulder, affectionately.

"Go with Chris, uncle. Don't worry about me. I will handle them.

Roger let Chris lead him out of the room. Carolyn turned to face Barnabas and Sabrina.

"Apart from telling me that I should commit Roger, what else have you come to tell me?"

"I think that he should have therapy" Barnabas said, softly "before a gun goes off."

"When I want your opinion about Uncle Roger, I'll ask you for it. Anything else?"

"Yes. Frank Torrance."

"What about him?"

"I went to Washington and met him there. He told me what you and Megan had done to him."

"Did he?"

"Stop playacting" Sabrina was harsh "he knows the whole story. And so do we. You'll be in the Federal Pen for this one, unless you cooperate with us."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Don't get cute " Sabrina continued. "I wouldn't mind it a little bit if you got jailed. But when you involved Megan in this you made it possible for Chris and me to be sent there. You understand the situation?"

"And what do you propose to do about that?"

"I have read Torrance's report" Barnabas intervened "Nothing will happen if you carry out the improvements he said are coming"

"And if I don't?"

"Then you'd be destroying not only your freedom, but Torrance's career and be putting Chris and Sabrina in danger."

"If everybody kept quiet about it, nothing will happen."

"Too many people know about it. And," Sabrina indicated Barnabas with a twist of the head "at least one of them has a loose tongue."

"You would not turn me in" Carolyn dared Barnabas.

"Don't make me do it."

"He has few choices, darling" Sabrina's words hit with the precision of well-sharpened knives "He puts up with a lot of trash from you. But this is different. He would hate to have to hurt you. He will hate it all the while he is doing it. But he knows it has to be done, and he will do it."

"You wouldn't dare! Carolyn screamed at Barnabas.

"If he doesn't I will. I do not want to go to jail. And the only way I can save Chris' neck and mine is to turn you in. Of course, " she added seeing how Barnabas reacted to her words "there is another solution."

"What solution?" Carolyn continued her bluff.

"He can do to you what Megan did to Torrance."

"He wouldn't!"

Barnabas didn't know how to react to Sabrina's words. When they had agreed to face Carolyn, he said did not want to go as fat as that. But the way Sabrina put it... Was it better to let Carolyn go to jail? He knew that they could not afford her there, telling everybody about him and other Collinsport residents. They wanted to scare only Carolyn. But Carolyn refused to be scared...

"I'd rather you just started improvements on the factory on your own" he said, gently.

"I have no intention to do so."

"It is no use, Barnabas" Sabrina said softly "we just have to turn her in."

"Sabrina... please...I think that I can convince her."

Chris came in at that moment.

"How are we doing?"

"She won't give in. Barnabas does not want to send her to jail. Of course, as he himself said, going for her throat is out of the question. Maybe we should forget the whole thing."

"Why not forget it? Carolyn purred, thinking she could make an ally of Chris.

"How much?" Chris asked.

"Five to ten in the Federal Pen" answered Sabrina, looking at Barnabas.

"I am not the only one with something to hide." Carolyn reminded them.

"Well, what do you wan us to do?" Sabrina turned to Barnabas. "Do we go home and forget about the whole thing? Do you go to Torrance and tell him that it's all his fault, that next time he should be smart and let himself be bribed? What's so damn important about safety rules, anyway?"

"If there should be a fire.."

"The factory is safe, and you know it." With those words Carolyn made Barnabas' decision for him.

"It is not true." he took a step towards Carolyn. "I love you. I love you even if you hate me. But I cannot let you get away with it. You understand? I do not want to hurt you. Do not force me to."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Don't push me. For pity's sake, don't push me!" He took another step.

"Well, he finally figured it out" muttered Sabrina under he breath.

Barnabas moved closer to Carolyn. There was no other way. he understood now that Sabrina had known it from the start. He realized how she had pushed him into accepting it. No matter. It had to be done.

One more step and he could grab her arms. He took it.

Carolyn screamed and tried to fight him off. It was too late. He held her tight and forced her head back...

"I guess it is done now "Sabrina sighed "now if we could get Megan to cool off with her under-the-table jobs..."

"I'll try to tell her that." Chris answered.

Barnabas let Carolyn go, making sure that she fell on the sofa as he released her. Her face was pale, reflecting her shock, as he fell.

Barnabas turned towards Sabrina. There was a trickle of blood at the corner of his lips and tears forming in his eyes.

"Are you happy now?" he asked Sabrina.

"I am not" She put her arm on his shoulder "I am just relieved that thing were not worse."

"She will never forgive me. She will keep on hating me..."

"Never is too big a word. Who knows what will happen in six months? Let's go home, and be glad that the worst is over."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 2

Representative Evans of Maine looked at her appointment list. It was going to be a busy week. And, as she said to the staff, you have to talk to your constituents. The problem was that this constituent was Willie Loomis. Not that she minded Willie. She liked him. She had come all the way from DC to his wedding. But Willie meant Barnabas, and Barnabas meant a whole new aspirin supply.

She wondered again why she had let him handle her first campaign. Well, it seemed a good idea at the time. With his help, she had been elected against Carolyn's efforts. Of course it had been a setback when Carolyn exposed his vampirism to the townspeople, but Carolyn was such a bitch that it all ended well.

But now she wanted to go on to bigger and better things. And what she least wanted to see was an FBI file on her former campaign manager.

If she didn't find a way to get rid of the threat he represented, she'd better pack her bags.

For what little good it did, she had never acknowledged to anybody that she knew that there was anything wrong with him. Should anyone leak it out, she would be extremely surprised and try to luck it out.

It would be better if his car were to go off the cliff. If only she could keep Angelique from finding out that she had arranged it...

Willie had changed since she had last seen him. After losing all his money in that Florida land deal he had taken to drink. But then he had straightened out, though there were traces of his bad time in him.

"You look very well, Willie." she said as he came into the room.

"Thank you, Mag... er... Ms. Evans."

"Just call me Maggie. I am not in the habit of forgetting old friends."

"Thanks. And thank you for helping me start my business after that son-of-bitch cleaned me up."

"It was the law. You were entitled to a small business loan. All I did was get some bureaucrat get off his ass and do the work he's being paid to do."

"Even so, I will always be grateful to you. And to Barnabas, after the way he got me off the bottle. After that, anything he wants of me, he can have."

"Yes, he's a good man." She'd better warn him here and now about what he could say and not say in DC. "I was lucky to have someone of his integrity running my campaign. Any slip, and it would all be over. You do not know what this place is like. Everybody is looking into everybody else's dirty little secrets. They are always fishing for a scandal that can end your career.. And if they can't find dirt on you, they go after your staff. And the campaign manager is a lighting rod for this. Laundered money, dirty tricks, ballot stuffing, embezzlement, a sex scandal. Whatever will do the job. That's why I am glad it was him. he's clean."

She didn't know how much did Willie believe that spiel, but it didn't matter. As long as he got the point that there could be a bug planted there.

"And he's had such a bad time lately..."

"I know. Carolyn still does not speak to him?"

"Of course not. In a way, I can see her point. No, not about you being elected." he added quickly. "About her mother. After all, she wanted to marry Adam, but he just runs off with her mother..."

"I cannot blame Elizabeth either. All these years she buried herself alive because she though she had murdered her husband. After she was free, she wanted to live and make up for those missing years."

"Poor Roger" Willie wondered if he had to go through the whole family before Maggie indicated that she was ready for business. "Between Elizabeth, and David running off to a commune, it undid him. Watergate was the last straw. So now he runs around accusing everyone of framing Nixon. It is sad...

"Poor Roger. And then the way Barnabas and Julia quarreled.."

"She had always been in love with him. And he either didn't notice or played dumb. Eventually she got tired of the runaround. She made a play for Eliot Stokes."

"And Stokes preferred to marry Mrs. Johnson, the housekeeper."

"Mrs. Johnson aided and abetted by Barnabas. Julia did not forgive him that. Also at that time Barnabas was very critical of the AMA, doing his bit for socialized medicine. They had extremely heated discussions about malpractice, unnecessary operations, inflated bills, and other interesting matters."

"Well, now that Julia is away, time may heal the wounds." Maggie sighed, wondering if Willie remembered that it was her who had arranged the Julia study trip, and that he should not ask favors one after the other. "In a way it was my fault it happened. I shared the figures I had with him."

"Not your fault. Barnabas can be as tactless as Quentin."

"I got a letter from Quentin. Or rather a tract. He seems wanting to convert everyone around."

"He's getting to Louella now. Well, it doesn't seem to hurt her, maybe it helps her a bit..."

Maggie bit her tongue before she commented on Quentin's efforts to convert every beautiful woman he could see. There was no point in alarming Willie. It was one thing for Quentin to try to seduce Louella, it was another to succeed.. For that matter, Quentin's conversion could be the real thing. But she doubted it. Quentin's conversion was only the latest in his long string of accidents.

"All in all, it is good to know that some people back home are doing well." She kept stretching the conversation. It was a good way, she had found out. to scale down demands. 'Like Chris and Sabrina."

"Yes." Damn it, did he have to go through the whole town? "And since Megan, Angelique, and Sabrina work together with him, they are calling them "Chris's Angels" Like the TV show.".

"What about you and Louella? Are you planning to give us a little Loomis?"

"We are planning on it."

"Good for you."

"Say, Maggie." It had to be said now. He could take no more of this social chatter. "do you know that Barnabas needs help? He needs a job. And he has no experience whatsoever. Couldn't you find him a place in the Civil Service? Look, you know that there are many things he can do, even if he never got paid for doing them. You know best what he's good at. Certainly there is some place in the Government that could use him."

"He would have to take the Civil Service test first, you know."

"I know. I don't want you to do anything improper. Only that if you figure out there is an opening. let us know."

"That's all I can do."

What had she gotten herself into? Finding a job for a vampire and in the Federal Government yet. Maybe she could put in in the IRS.

"That's what I get for not wanting a crooked campaign manager." she thought "What is so wrong with laundering money, anyway? And why does Willie want him in the Federal Government? Because then he could not wake up people at 3 AM and have them sign petitions? It seemed funny when she had heard about it, but it probably wasn't so funny when it happened to you.

And why had she let him run her campaign? Because she needed him then, of course.

Too bad the Julia Hoffman solution could not work here. Where would she find the money to send him and Angelique on a honeymoon cruise? No, she'd better find him a job before she went broke and Jack Anderson came sniffing a great story there...

How she got into these messes, anyway?

"As I say, Willie, there is not much that I can do. But I will try. Say, those organizations that he did volunteer work for, were they in the kosher list of the FBI?"

"With the kind of stuff they are finding about Edgar Hoover, you think that it'll matter?"

"Did he ever go around with Communists, I mean?"

"Never as far as he knew. Of course, there might be one of them around, but who it might be, he'd have no way of knowing."

"Well, what kind of job would he want?"

"You know what kind of volunteer work he did. Something along the same lines. Will you look for it?"

"Willie, if there is a job in the Civil Service that he can do, he'll get it."

She wondered how much of a leeway that promise gave her. Not much, since she couldn't afford to have him go broke. And he certainly could not go into business by himself. After all, Willie, for all his devotion, had not thought of making him a partner...So it came to her, in DC and her bag of tricks from where projects, Federal money and Federal jobs came from. And in the meantime she was supposed to pass laws and shape national policy. But when? Not when most of the time she was busy on stuff like finding a job for a vampire.


End file.
